'Jesus gave us the flu shot' says Trump religious adviser Copeland

Gloria and Kenneth Copeland received a letter from President Trump on the 50th anniversary of their ministry. (Source: Kenneth Copeland Ministries/Facebook)

(RNN) - A Texas preacher and occasional evangelical adviser of President Donald Trump’s is telling followers not to get a flu shot because, “Jesus himself gave us the flu shot.”

Gloria Copeland, who with her husband Kenneth runs Kenneth Copeland Ministries based in Fort Worth, posted a clip to her official Facebook page last week in which she advises viewers that flu shots are unnecessary.

“Well listen partners, we don’t have a flu season,” she begins in the video. “We’ve got a duck season, a deer season, but we don’t have a flu season.”

Copeland adds that if “somebody threatens you” by noting the spread of the flu virus, rest assured that, “we’ve already had our shot. He bore our sickness and carried our diseases and that’s what we stand on, and by his stripes we were healed.”

She then prays for those with the flu, at one point directly addressing the virus. “Flu I bind you off of the people in the name of Jesus. Jesus himself gave us the flu shot,” she said.

Shortly after she tells viewers to, “inoculate yourself with the word of God.”

According to their official website, Gloria and Kenneth Copeland have been involved in ministry for 50 years. The couple have been married for 54 years.

The pair were included in a released list of evangelical advisers when Trump was campaigning in June 2016. Among the other members were former Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson and Jerry Falwell, Jr., son of the late pastor and current president of Liberty University.

"I have such tremendous respect and admiration for this group and I look forward to continuing to talk about the issues important to Evangelicals, and all Americans, and the common sense solutions I will implement when I am President,” Trump said in the release at the time.

Early in the campaign, in September 2015, the Copelands were among a group of Christian and Jewish leaders who prayed with Trump.

It is unclear what kind of regular contact Trump has maintained with the board since his election. The only official White House acknowledgment of the council came last May when the president hosted the group for a dinner. He met again with members in July and December, and in September members of the council were present in the Oval Office when Trump declared a national day of prayer following Hurricane Harvey. The Copelands did not appear to attend any of these gatherings however.

In August, Trump sent a congratulatory letter to the Copelands on their anniversary of 50 years in religious service.